UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Monday, March 3

LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index
is expected to open sharply lower on Monday on growing tensions
in Ukraine, with financial spreadbetters predicting the
blue-chip index to open 63 to 69 points lower, or down as much
as 1 percent.

* Futures

* Ukraine mobilised for war on Sunday after Russian
President Vladimir Putin declared he had the right to invade his
neighbour, sending Asian stocks tumbling and oil prices jumping.

* Ukrainian border guards on Monday reported a build-up of
armoured vehicles on the Russian side of a narrow sea channel
dividing Russia and the Ukrainian region of Crimea.

* BP - BP shares are likely to fall 3 percent,
according to traders, as the company has a stake in Russia's
biggest oil producer Rosneft, which is seen down 8
percent.

* Mining stocks will be in focus after London copper slipped
to three-month lows as traders, already spooked by growing
copper stockpiles in China, focused on data showing a modest
cooling in the world's top consumer of metals.

* China's factory activity shrank again in February as
output and new orders fell, a private survey found on Monday,
reinforcing concerns of a slowdown in the world's second largest
economy.

* ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND - Part-nationalised Royal
Bank of Scotland is working on a plan to salvage its troubled
Irish business, Ulster Bank, by merging it with a number of
rivals, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.

* TESCO - Warren Buffett said Berkshire Hathaway's
stake in Tesco fell about 27 percent to 301 million
shares by end-2013, excluding shares held by subsidiary pension
funds, from the previous year.
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